I Love the First Day of School!

I love the first day of school.  Geeky, but true.  For those of us who are still on campus at the end of the academic year, summers are way too quiet.  I miss the students – yes, even when they are naughty.

On the 1st day there is so much promise.  The building come alive with students, walking, talking, and sometimes looking around with confusion about where to go next.  When I arrive in my classroom, they are all there.  Yes, 100% attendance, it only happens again on final exam day.  The difference between that day and today is that today they are excited to be there; eager to see what possibilities the course has to offer them.

Pencils have sharpened points, notebooks are crisp and white. They talk, they contribute, they still think I am cool.  This is all before the mid-semester doldrums hit or they realize that I actually expect them to turn in work.

Today we talked of many things – what archaeology is, what they thought it was, if they will have a chance to try it themselves, places archaeologists go. No, we don’t do dinosaurs.  No, I don’t carry a whip, and X never marks the spot.

I spoke of doing fieldwork in North Carolina, Florida, Mexico – both on land and underwater.  I make the same 1st day joke I do every semester – I became an archaeologist because they let me have a machete.  They always smile. Yep, cool factor goes up a little.

We also talked about places students can go – Peru, Ecuador, Ireland, Costa Rica as part of our study abroad program; Most of you have learned all about it too.  This year is Scotland.  Hopefully, you will hear about our progress towards that trip this semester and what we learn once we return in May.  Maybe one or two of my new archaeology students will come along on the Scotland trip.  I hope all of them will enjoy the course and learn a little more about archaeology than they came in with.

I love the 1st day of school only in the way a teacher can….